NL West Notes: Montero, Parra, Giants, Kasten

It was on this day in 1983 that the Dodgers, after selling 27,000 season tickets, cut off season ticket sales for the upcoming season out of a desire to leave large quantities of seats available for walkup and group sales. The club could be on the way to rekindling this popularity in Los Angeles, as tickets are selling fast with the news that the Magic Johnson/Stan Kasten group has bought the team.

Some items from the Dodgers and elsewhere in the NL West…

Miguel Montero is looking for a contract akin to Victor Martinez's four-year, $50MM deal with the Tigers, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Montero is entering the last year of his contract with the Diamondbacks and Heyman believes that the Snakes will have trouble re-signing the catcher at his desired price. While Yadier Molina's extension with the Cardinals raised the bar for catcher contracts, I think Montero needs one more big season to prove himself worth of a Martinez-esque deal. The D'Backs could also use V-Mart as a reverse example, pointing to his season-ending ACL injury as an example of why a catcher's health is tenuous (thought Martinez had mostly transitioned to a DH spot in Detroit) and why they'd be hesitant to make such a commitment to Montero.

Montero wouldn't confirm his contract demands to Jack Magruder of FOX Sports Arizona and said he "can’t really think about" potentially giving the Diamondbacks a hometown discount "right now" since he's focused on the upcoming season.

The Diamondbacks are still getting trade inquiries about Gerardo Parra but the team isn't going to move the Gold Glover, tweets MLB.com's Steve Gilbert. Arizona GM Kevin Towers describes the trade market as "pretty quiet."

In an interview with Chris Russo of Mad Dog Radio on SiriusXM, Stan Kasten dismissed criticism that his group overpaid for the Dodgers and thought they met "the market value" for the team. Kasten did say that Mark Walter, the chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, views the Dodgers as "a gold standard asset that you just cannot acquire….there are values there that just transcend conventional return on investment metrics."

Kasten has heard "generally favorable" impressions about Dodgers GM Ned Colletti and manager Don Mattingly and isn't planning to make any management changes, "but you don’t know anything until you work with people."

Kasten said that the team will look into renovating, not replacing, Dodger Stadium. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, however, speculates that the Dodgers could build a new ballpark in downtown Los Angeles and sell the Chavez Ravine land to a group looking to build a stadium for a new NFL team for L.A.

Anyone that gives Montero what VMart got should get their head examined. granted, VMart was overpaid, but he is an absolute hitting machine and a fair defensive catcher and 1b, while montero might be a good defensive catcher who has shown he can hit at a very good offensive location.

I am thinking that there is nobody willing to shell out 4 years 12.5m for this guy. It would almost be a better gamble to throw that much money away on Russel Martin.

One thing for sure.. Since that awful Molina contract? it’s a bad time to be needing a catcher and to have to get one via FA.

Why do we keep hearing about this fictional and completely unnecessary new ballpark in downtown LA? Dodger Stadium is great. It is beloved by fans. It is the second-oldest ballpark in the NL. Fix the parking and the access, then it will be as nearly perfect as any ballpark needs to be!

Hit the nail on the head. I can’t believe it has taken 50 years to start discussing a train directly to and from Dodger Stadium. It will probably take another 50 years to build, but at least they are talking about it.

The biggest reason people in LA “show up late and leave early” is due to traffic. I usually stay to the end of games knowing full well I’m probably not getting home until midnight. Getting in and out of that stadium is an absolute nightmare.

I will say the renovations that Frank actually went through with were pretty decent. As BlueSkyLA says, just fix up the stadium and it will be a-ok.

If Montero has a 2012 that is anything CLOSE to his 2011, he will easily find a 4yr/$50M suitor – probably 2 or 3.

*sigh*

This makes the Kubel signing all the more dubious, especially given AZ’s lack of depth at Catcher. It would be one thing is signing Kubel was going to possibly cost them a #3 starter (still a high price) but at least at that position they have absolutely insane depth.

Given KT’s success in AZ so far, the jury is still out on the Kubel signing verdict. But it certainly is not looking good.